Ex Libris
by Jimli
Summary: After the incident with Temen-ni-gru, Dante can't help but think that if he knew a little more about his father's legend and legacy, things might have worked out differently. He decides to do something he's never done before: research at the local library. Too bad the librarian is more interesting than the information...
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: **__This story is complete, to be posted in three parts. It is short, not epic in the slightest, and somewhat fluffy. For fans of my work, you will be intrigued to find that this is _not_ a Vergil/OC story; it is Dante/OC. ;)_

_This story started as a request from Zombi3gyrl, as a love story with a librarian in glasses. I hope it is everything you wanted!_

**Disclaimer: **_My rights to Devil May Cry fell into the black hole at the center of the galaxy. :(_

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**Ex Libris**

**Volume I: Check Out**

One look at him was enough to convince her he didn't have a clue about libraries. He wandered from section to section, obviously not finding whatever it was he was looking for. If he even knew what he was looking for. And who in his right mind dressed like that anyway, all that red and black leather?

She shook her head. Well, she was a librarian, this was her domain, and he clearly needed help. She walked over to him.

"Excuse me, sir? Can I help you?" she asked, straightening her glasses.

He turned, and she was momentarily struck by how handsome he was. And young. Not that he was a kid or teenager; it was just with that white hair, she had been expecting someone old. This guy was probably in his early twenties. He cocked a crooked grin at her.

"I don't know, babe, what is it you do?"

His lecherous smile made his words seem even dirtier than they should have.

She bristled.

"I am a librarian!" she snapped. "I don't know what kind of women you're used to dealing with-"

"The kind that shoots me in the head," he muttered glumly.

"-but you cannot talk to me that way! If you need a book, I would be more than happy to help, if not, I suggest you leave!"

"Whoa, relax, babe!" he backpedaled. "Look, libraries aren't really my thing; they're more my brother's deal."

"Then maybe you should have sent your brother," she huffed.

A pained wince came across his face, and she wondered if she'd said something wrong.

"Maybe you can start by telling me what you're looking for," she said, more gently, in an effort to salvage the situation.

His lopsided grin came back, and his pale blue eyes cleared.

"Sure, babe. What kind of books do you have on demon lore?"

"Demon lore?" she repeated.

What an odd request.

"Hmm, well, follow me. We can start in religion and mythology."

She headed for the nonfiction section.

"What are you trying to find out? If we can narrow down your focus, we'll find your book faster."

"Anything about Sparda."

"Sparda? The legendary dark knight? I'm afraid we don't have a lot about that old story."

She picked through the books, vetoing some immediately, reshelving others only after leafing through them, and finally dumping two volumes into his hands.

"This one," she pointed at the larger of the pair, "mentions the basic legend, along with some other old stories and myths about demons. This one," she indicated the small, thin book on top, "is a book that was found in the rubble of that massive tower that appeared a few years back, remember?"

He nodded once, a terse jerk of his head.

"Anyway, this was found there. At first, it was thought that it belonged to some business or residence that had been in that section of town, but when the police looked it over, they thought maybe it had actually come from within the tower itself. Can you imagine? I talked to a local devil hunter who said he'd been in there, fighting the demons! How exciting that must have been!"

She paused, looking at the guy.

"Was he now? No telling what a guy might have seen in there," he drawled.

She cocked her head, trying to figure this guy out. She shook her head, then straightened her glasses again.

"Well, I think that's all we have here. I know of an island just off the coast that is supposed to have a bunch of stuff-"

"Nah, thanks anyway, babe," he said dismissively. "Think you can help me get these checked out of here? The longer I stay in a library, the more it's gonna damage my reputation around here."

She bristled again. Damage his reputation? She had just started liking this guy, and now he was insulting her and her library! She just hated jerks like him, thinking there was something wrong with being in a library.

She turned on her heel, straightened her glasses again, and stalked off towards the front desk.

"You'll need to fill out this card to check out anything."

She handed him a short form, which he quickly filled out. She looked at the information.

"Well, Mr. Redgrave," she said, "if you'll wait just a minute or so more, I'll have your card prepped, and you may go save your reputation."

'Anthony Redgrave' was written on the form. She frowned. She knew that name.

Tony Redgrave had quite the reputation, all right; he was supposedly a devil hunter here in the city and was renowned for his prowess at drinking. Supposedly, he'd drunk the entire bar under the table one night, and wasn't even buzzed. She shook her head. There were three kinds of stories you could never believe: drinking, fishing, and anything from a hunter's bar.

She filled out the card, got him to sign it, and watched him exit the library with the books stowed away in the pockets of his absurd coat.

She tidied up the paperwork on her desk, straightened her glasses, and went back to sorting the new books she'd been adding to the library's collection.


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N: **__Second chapter, yay! A bit of language, because it is Dante after all..._

_Thanks to the reviews, favorites, and follows I've received on this so far! Jimli ;)_

**Disclaimer: **_I stole the rights to Devil May Cry, and I would have gotten away with it, too, if it hadn't been for those meddling kids and their stupid mutt!_

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**Ex Libris**

**Volume II: Cross Reference**

He leafed through the larger volume, but his mind was more on the librarian. The plaque on the desk had read 'Mina Grey', he remembered. She'd been cute, too. _Really_ cute. He'd thought all librarians were old biddies; if he'd known they were spunky little brunettes with glasses…

He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts and focus. He needed to read up on his famous father. He was tired of always being behind, of having to guess. If he could learn more about his father's life and legacy, maybe he could get ahead of the nut jobs, maybe he could even figure out what had happened to Sparda…

The larger book was kind of a bust; what was in it was either old hat from the stories his mom had told him and his brother, or utter shit, untrue in the least.

He picked up the smaller book, leafed through it a few times, and found himself distracted again.

Had her eyes been gray or green? Not brown…maybe blue? Not blue like his, a gray-blue, perhaps…

He snapped his own ice-blue orbs back to the book.

Arkham's, no doubt; it was too accurate to belong to someone who hadn't extensively researched and observed the tower first-hand, and the notes inside weren't written in his twin's tight and neat script. If he'd known this crap beforehand, it might've changed things.

She had said something about another source of information…. It would certainly be worth looking into, right? And that cute librarian had offered to help…

He grinned. Tomorrow he'd go back and ask that bespectacled little hottie for help.

She wasn't there. Some snappish vulture of woman (seriously, was she even human?!) informed him coldly that _Ms_. Grey had the day off, and there was _certainly_ nothing that _she_ could do for him that any other librarian couldn't do as well.

So he'd spent the day being hovered over and eyeballed by Nekhbet, the Vulture Goddess. Admittedly, he learned everything he'd set out to, but he'd much rather have been distracted by the cutie he'd met yesterday.

When he was convinced that Mina Grey didn't have some second shift, he exited the library, determined to go back tomorrow.

Wandering through the darkening city, he let his mind drift over the information he'd learned, filing it neatly away, hoping that sooner or later some demon would come along with some missing puzzle pieces.

Loud cursing caught his attention, and then his other senses kicked in: there was a demon nearby. He rushed off towards the disturbance, grinning in anticipation of the fight.

A small female figure was holding some pathetic lesser demon at bay by beating on the poor thing mercilessly with her book bag and assaulting it with colorful insults the likes of which even _he'd_ never heard.

He pulled out Ivory and shot the demon, quickly putting it out of its misery. Disappointing, really.

He glanced at the woman, but his snappy commentary died on his lips. It was his cute little librarian!

She was pushing her glasses back onto her face, still scowling at the pile of evaporating dust that used to be the demon. She looked up, clearly prepared to give him a piece of her mind, probably for interfering, and stopped.

"Aren't you the library-hating jerk from yesterday?"

"Ouch, babe. I just spent the entire day up there with the Condor Goddess. How about some sympathy?"

She sniffed, straightening her glasses yet again.

"What could you have possibly wanted in the library today?"

"You."

She turned a somewhat shocked look at him. "Me?"

"Yep. I wanted to see you. Spent all day yesterday thinking about those pretty eyes of yours instead of the books I went for."

He scrutinized her intensely enough to make her nervous.

"So they are gray, just like your name."

"I don't recall telling you my name," she said suspiciously.

He laughed.

"Your name plaque. I really _do_ know how to read. Are you gonna spend the night in this alley, or shall I walk you home?"

She hesitated, then nodded, accepting his proffered arm.

"Did you really spend the day at the library because you wanted to see me?"

"Sure did, babe. Annoyed that vulture, too. But I managed to learn everything I set out to."

She slumped a little.

"So you won't be back tomorrow?"

"Depends. You working?"

She nodded.

"Then I'll be there. I'm sure you can find every book I'd ever want, right?"

He winked at her.

"I don't handle picture books," she sniffed.

"No problem, you're all I want to look at anyway."

She eyed him skeptically. "Really? That has got to be the lamest come-on I've heard from you yet."

"Is there a book on pick-up lines?" he asked with another wink and one of his cute, cocky grins.

"We can look tomorrow," she promised with a smile.

She stopped in front of a small apartment building. "This is it. Well, good night, Mr. Redgrave."

"Name's Dante, Ms. Grey."

"Dante? Like Alighieri?"

He nodded. "My dad liked the poem, I guess: he named me and my brother after it."

"But your card, you put down 'Anthony Redgrave'."

He shrugged. "Dante's my first name."

She smiled again. "Well, good night then, Dante."

He kind of _liked _the way his name sounded when she said it.

"Good night, babe."

She frowned, bristling a little.

"I'd prefer if you called me by name, instead of 'babe' like some cheap floozy."

"Fair enough. Good night, Mina. Tomorrow?"

She nodded dreamily; she kind of _liked_ the way her name sounded when he said it.


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N: **__Last chapter early, just because. Ware the lemon! I'll put skip points for those who don't want to read it. Stop at 80, pick up at :)._

_Lemon, which is nearly half of this short chapter._

**Disclaimer: **_I had the rights, and they were protected by this state-of-the-art security system. Turns out the company was a dummy corporation used by some con artists to steal them from me! That is the __last__ time I ever trust a company called "Highwaymen, Inc."!_

_Jimli XP_

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**Ex Libris**

**Volume III: Book Returns**

They spent the day together in the library, looking over more books on demon lore, guns, swords, cooking, poetry, art, inventors, flight, and every other subject either of them had the even vaguest interest in.

Closing time came too soon for the two of them.

Mina frowned. "I guess I've got to usher you out of here and get everything cleaned up and closed up."

Dante shrugged. "I'll wait for you outside. Then I'll walk you home." He grinned. "Don't want you beat the hell out of any more poor helpless demons."

True to his word, half an hour later, he was still standing outside, and they walked to her home together.

"Today was really fun, Dante," she said. "Would you like to come in?"

He was mildly surprised at her suggestion, but he just grinned.

"Sure, Mina."

When the door closed behind him, she all but pounced at him. He barely caught her in his arms, and she assaulted his mouth with hers. He didn't let her stay in complete control for long, sliding his tongue in her mouth, tasting her all over.

She pushed his coat off his shoulders, and he slid his hands under the edge of her shirt. Her groping hands found the buckles on his vest, and quickly removed it.

"How many layers of clothes do you wear?" she asked irritatedly.

"Keep digging and find out," he replied in her ear.

She pulled away from him, grabbed his hand, and dragged him over to her bedroom. Once inside, they each undressed themselves, then came back together, hands roving over each other, mouths kissing, noses nuzzling. He stopped her from removing her glasses.

"I like them," he growled softly.

"But-"

"Don't worry, babe," he drawled, "nothing's gonna happen to them. You can even take them off later."

He scooped her up bridal style and put her down on her bed. He massaged her breasts as his mouth ran up and down her throat, nipping it occasionally. She ran her hands through his hair, tangling her fingers in it, tugging it. He bit her a little harder, bruising the skin. She squealed, then reached around him to pinch his ass. He moaned against her neck. His hand found her warm and wet, but he started massaging anyway; she clamped her thighs around his wrist for a moment.

"Are you going to tease me, or do something already?" she hissed impatiently.

He pulled away from her throat, grinned at her, and thrust inside, relishing her squeak of pleasure.

Their mouths found each other again and again, then Dante very carefully removed Mina's glasses, setting them on the headboard. He kissed her eyes, one at a time, then began pumping his hips into her warmth.

Her fingers dug into his back, her heels into his rear; his hands squeezed her behind, then her breasts. They rocked, moans and groans of pleasure often muted by captured kisses. He thrust harder, deeper; she climaxed, and he quickly followed. They lay together, still joined for a few more lingering moments before Dante shifted from her.

Mina snuggled against his warm body, the scent of their lovemaking filling her nose. He wrapped his arms around her and gave the top of her head a kiss.

"Maybe I should have gone to the library sooner," was the last thing she heard him say before they both fell asleep.


End file.
